russia. another hour of christiansen reports starts right now. ight now good morning, it is sunday june 25th. i am chris jansing. velshi is in he s making his way to ukraine to report on the events of the last few days. that s where we begin this hour. an extraordinary, tell, and potentially game changing 24 hours. this morning, this leads the u.s. and the world with questions in the aftermath of the greatest threat in vladimir putin s 23 year rule. it s weakened his authority? but does it tell us about his country s defense. what might be the impact on the war in ukraine? we ve got some thoughts from today s meet the press. now what we ve seen is russia having to defend moscow, its capital, against mercenaries of its own making. this is a challenge coming from within to putin, and that s where his focus has been. our focus is resolutely and resolutely on ukraine. we saw a demonstrable crack and uproot and strength. the only real answer here is that putin is going to st
russia in crisis. the weekend mutiny by russian mercenaries exposes putin s vulnerability, forcing him to cut a deal with the man he had called a traitor just hours before. that man, hot dog vendor turned war lord yevgeny prigozhin was apparently allowed to flee to belarus. we re going to take a deep dive into what happens next for him and his wagner group. and it s becoming increasingly clear that republican voters don t care how corrupt their candidates are. donald trump s lead is actually growing in the crowded republican presidential field. make that make sense. but we begin tonight with a wild weekend in the unprecedented challenge to more than two decades of vladimir putin s grip on russia. the armed rebellion has ended, but the uncertainty it sparked continues. the russian war lord behind that attempted insurrection. wagner group leader yevgeny prigozhin remains out of sight, but he released an audio message today, claiming he wasn t seeking to overthrow putin. h
and the issue of abortion is front and center as president biden and his republican rivals pulled doing events. we re getting a new snapshot of the 2024 election landscape one year after the supreme court overturned roe v wade. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. wolf blitzer is off today. our top story at this hour, cnn has learned that some key witnesses in the january 6 investigation have been given limited immunity by special counsel jack smith. they are two of the fake electors for donald trump in the state of nevada. our senior legal of failed corresponding, paula reid, has more on her exclusive reporting. paula, what is the significance of the special counsel giving these fake electors this partial immunity? well, it suggests that this part of the january 6 investigation, the focus on these fake slates of electors who tried to overturn the result of the 2020 election, this comes before a friend once again for this particular
inside russia. right now vladimir putin is still in charge. in fact, he might have just spoken for the first time since the attempted rebellion over the weekend. we ll tell you what he said and why there are questions about when and where this new video of putin the kremlin released this morning has come from. it has been a confusing and volatile 72 hours. longtime ally yevgeny prigozhin began and quickly called off an attempt to overtake the military leaders. how close did he get? why suddenly did he turn around? putin is known for viciously crushing dissent. why exactly did he let prigozhin go? the warlord hasn t been publicly seen or heard from since he apparently fled on saturday. we have reporters in moscow, ukraine and the white house along with experts on russia, putin and prigozhin. whatever happens in russia will have a profound impact not just on the stability of that country, but far-reaching consequences for the war in ukraine and well beyond that. it can affect
is for the first time in the history of the country, a former president a facing federal charges. it is friday, june 9, here are the latest developments. a grand jury in florida has indicted trump on seven counts related to the mishandling of classified documents. his lawyer says he is facing a charge under the espionage act. and also charges of obstruction of justice, false statements and conspiracy. the former president released a video railing against the indictment calling it a hoax and election interference. he says he is an innocent man. in a post trump said he has been summoned to appear in federal court in miami 3:00 p.m. tuesday. they did not give any advanced warning of the indictment. secret service will be coming up with a plan for the court appearance. and congressional allies quick to rally to his defense as some of his campaign rivals attacked the legal system but avoided direct support notably of the former president. so far the biden white house has not c